SNAKES ALIVE IN SUBURBIA

A family with a menagerie of slithery pets want to teach others to live in harmony with these feared animals

- SIPHOKAZI ZAMA

THEY’VE been called witches, evil, stupid and “unAfrican” and it’s hard to get anyone – even their own families – to visit them at home.

But Collen Lengwasa and his wife, Lidia BaptistaLengwasa, are unfazed by the slurs and snubs. They’re on a mission to educate the community about the creatures that inhabit their home in Potchefstroom, North West, and if people think they’re crazy, so be it.

Collen, Lidia and their 11-year-old son, Tshiamo, own 60 snakes altogether and have no fewer than 18 living in their house. And when the family curl up on the couch at night to watch TV, a python is likely be draped over their necks as they tuck into the popcorn.

“We’ve heard things about ourselves, but a lot of that comes from not understanding snakes,” Collen says. “We want to raise awareness about the role snakes play in the ecosystem and how we can live peacefully alongside them.”

The snake sign hanging on the gate outside the family home warns you this is no ordinary suburban dwelling. As we walk into the house, we find Lucy, an albino Burmese python, chilling in a corner in the lounge while a boa relaxes in its glass cage.

We’re not there for long when Collen gets a call from his commander at the local army base, where he works as an instructor: there’s a snake on the loose and Collen is needed pronto.

We dash over to the base where we find a crowd of soldiers gesticulating and shouting at a snake lurking in a tree. One onlooker wonders whether somebody practising witchcraft has sent the snake.